Jobs and talent

[Southern Discomfort]

I haven't been able to find work for the field I studied for since I left college five years ago and because of that I've felt useless and worthless. I suffer from depression mainly because I don't feel like I'm particularly talented at anything, nothing worth anything in employment. I find it triggers when I hear about other people's fortunes, their talents and skills. I'm envious, incredibly envious of these people.

Does anyone else feel the same as me? And how do you find something you're talented at? My interests are in computer games and technology but I don't feel talented in either one to build a career off. I'm tried a bit of game development with a little success, I find it interesting but hard. I was no good at coding, in college I almost failed my BTEC National Diploma in ICTP because of it. I get easily frustrated at problems I can't solve with computers. And I don't consider myself very good with english do pursue a job in writing for a tech column or something similar, I could be dyslexic with all the mistakes I make writing.

I'm bringing this up with my psychiatrist tomorrow. I need to know that when I'm physically able to work once I've learnt to drive a car that I have some sort of roadmap for gaining employment for a job I will like and has a career path.

 

[superawesomeme]

In the 20 years since graduating secondary school, I have had a number of different "career goals" and they've rarely been met or been even close to what I've actually done.

I would say that when you're starting out on your career journey, don't worry about what a job is going to lead to because in my experience you can discover talents and passions you never knew you had from the strangest of places.

For example when I left school I wanted to go into the performing arts, maybe as a tv presenter or something similar, but I ended up working for a company that scanned invoices for large corporations which was far from my dream.

My job did however take me down a path of developing file storage systems and then websites, which gave me an opportunity to do some consultancy work with a global tv company (now Fremantle Media).

Then I studied Travel and Tourism to get a job as Cabin Crew which didn't lead to a job in travel but I did pick up some teaching support work at the college and later I got the opportunity to use the skills from my previous job in getting a promotion to developing eLearning systems and training people.

I'm now a qualified teacher which is actually better than my original dream. The money might not be as good but you get to present ideas and learning, you get to be creative and inspire people and I'm looking to potential travel with the skills I've now got by one day teaching English overseas.

20 years ago I would never have imagined I could be a teacher. In fact my teachers at the time wouldn't have believed it either. But I love it.

 

[DanR]

I have to agree with superawesomeme in that you start with what you have where you are, and keep your eyes open for opportunities (and keep moving). It won't turn out the way you expect. It won't turn out the way you want. It won't look anything like what you suspected, and that's ok. In fact it's good.

A big change came in my life when I realized that my hyperfocus was steerable. I'm not slave to it; it now serves me.
Hyperfocus isn't like a laser for me, it's more like a jousting lance. It is like a laser in that it is formidable to whatever it points at, but unlike a laser, it takes me a while to swing it around and point it at a new target. Sometimes it takes a few days for me to convince myself that this new project, or idea, or goal, or job is interesting, but when I get focused on it, I excel at it.

Perhaps that's true for you too; perhaps you can change gears faster than me, but you'll have to figure out how much time it takes you to change gears, to decide this something new is what you're interested in, to get that lance pointed over in that new direction.

If something comes up suddenly in my life, I know I can't possibly like it until x time has elapsed, and I sometimes have to force myself to do it, but I give myself the time and the grace to let it happen at my own speed.
My system:
1. analytically determine the likely best course of action at this time
2. decide that I must do it (even if I don't like it)
3. study it / practice it until I fall in love with it. If it really doesn't work out after this, start with step 1.